I confess I greatly enjoyed a tofurkey last year. An old fashioned turkey was on the menu too, but a series of hilarious misadventures had delayed its preparation by hours. I think it was around 5pm when someone said "Do you know this oven's not on?". The tofurkey-bearing vegetarian managed not to gloat and pointed out that it didn't need to cook, it was ready.

It's entirely possible at that point I would have enjoyed eating something catered by Fear Factor, but I'm pretty sure it was actually tasty. It would have been better as some kind of tofu casserole, it really failed to look like a fake turkey.

Mostly-vegetarian here. When I'm a guest at someone else's Thanksgiving, I just eat more side dishes and skip the bird. When I host my own celebration, just make a lot of traditional sides and put out the paper turkey decoration we've had since the 70s. Good time had by all.

Not out to convert anyone. Not out to "guilt" anyone. Anyone in my home who wants a turkey, I'm more than happy to attempt it (never actually cooked one-- not sure how...).

Seriously-- we aren't all smarmy a-holes who preach to you about food. Eat whatever you like, and happy thanksgiving, everyone.

This.When you come to my house, you can eat what's been prepared or not. Your choice. The flip side would be me not coming over to your place and demanding some kind of meat. Of course my knowing that you're a vegetarian would preclude the possibility of my coming to your place for dinner.

OccamsWhiskers:I confess I greatly enjoyed a tofurkey last year. An old fashioned turkey was on the menu too, but a series of hilarious misadventures had delayed its preparation by hours. I think it was around 5pm when someone said "Do you know this oven's not on?". The tofurkey-bearing vegetarian managed not to gloat and pointed out that it didn't need to cook, it was ready.

It's entirely possible at that point I would have enjoyed eating something catered by Fear Factor, but I'm pretty sure it was actually tasty. It would have been better as some kind of tofu casserole, it really failed to look like a fake turkey.

the one and only time I attempted to eat tofurkey, it was foul and smelled like cat food. has it gotten better in the past 10 years, or were you just really really famished?

The Whore Of Mensa:Mostly-vegetarian here. When I'm a guest at someone else's Thanksgiving, I just eat more side dishes and skip the bird. When I host my own celebration, just make a lot of traditional sides and put out the paper turkey decoration we've had since the 70s. Good time had by all.

Not out to convert anyone. Not out to "guilt" anyone. Anyone in my home who wants a turkey, I'm more than happy to attempt it (never actually cooked one-- not sure how...).

Seriously-- we aren't all smarmy a-holes who preach to you about food. Eat whatever you like, and happy thanksgiving, everyone.

i like you, i'd enjoy having you as a guest and teaching you how to cook a turkey if you're interested. i have a cousin who is vegan and lets everyone he comes in contact with know how wrong we are for abusing animals and disrespecting nature. he biatches every year yet doesn't contribute any dishes to the meal. i refuse to make him extra stuff. i cook traditional favorites and most call for turkey or chicken stock, eggs and butter. it would be different if he were nice about it.

lots of stuff for everyone, regardless of dietary concerns. Then again, we take the dietary needs of each family member into account when bringing food (as any good host should). I'm type 1 diabetic... so lots of low-carb stuff and at least 1 pitcher of unsweetened iced tea. My uncle is allergic to celery, so the stuffing is made without it. A cousin has a bad reaction to certain red food dyes, so cranberry relish is brought in addition to canned cranberry sauce.

The Mind Boggles:The Whore Of Mensa: Mostly-vegetarian here. When I'm a guest at someone else's Thanksgiving, I just eat more side dishes and skip the bird. When I host my own celebration, just make a lot of traditional sides and put out the paper turkey decoration we've had since the 70s. Good time had by all.

Not out to convert anyone. Not out to "guilt" anyone. Anyone in my home who wants a turkey, I'm more than happy to attempt it (never actually cooked one-- not sure how...).

Seriously-- we aren't all smarmy a-holes who preach to you about food. Eat whatever you like, and happy thanksgiving, everyone.

i like you, i'd enjoy having you as a guest and teaching you how to cook a turkey if you're interested. i have a cousin who is vegan and lets everyone he comes in contact with know how wrong we are for abusing animals and disrespecting nature. he biatches every year yet doesn't contribute any dishes to the meal. i refuse to make him extra stuff. i cook traditional favorites and most call for turkey or chicken stock, eggs and butter. it would be different if he were nice about it.

Do what I do: Make ample "vegetarian" dishes with a high grade "meat substitute". Only don't tell him that the "meat substitute" is actually veal...

i like you, i'd enjoy having you as a guest and teaching you how to cook a turkey if you're interested. i have a cousin who is vegan and lets everyone he comes in contact with know how wrong we are for abusing animals and disrespecting nature. he biatches every year yet doesn't contribute any dishes to the meal. i refuse to make him extra stuff. i cook traditional favorites and most call for turkey or chicken stock, eggs and butter. it would be different if he were nice about it.

cheers-- thanks. I was "lucky" enough to be exposed a vegetarian who was a complete twat-- preachy, self-righteous, etc. About a year or so later, I stopped eating (most*) meats, and took a solemn vow to never act like that jerk about food. Sometimes it's good to have negative examples to non-emulate in life.

*person who eats fish, but no other meats: "pescetarian" "hypocrite"... hey, might as well be honest about it.

i like you, i'd enjoy having you as a guest and teaching you how to cook a turkey if you're interested. i have a cousin who is vegan and lets everyone he comes in contact with know how wrong we are for abusing animals and disrespecting nature. he biatches every year yet doesn't contribute any dishes to the meal. i refuse to make him extra stuff. i cook traditional favorites and most call for turkey or chicken stock, eggs and butter. it would be different if he were nice about it.

cheers-- thanks. I was "lucky" enough to be exposed a vegetarian who was a complete twat-- preachy, self-righteous, etc. About a year or so later, I stopped eating (most*) meats, and took a solemn vow to never act like that jerk about food. Sometimes it's good to have negative examples to non-emulate in life.

*person who eats fish, but no other meats: "pescetarian" "hypocrite"... hey, might as well be honest about it.

i hate people like that. you're not a hypocrite in my book. :) my cousin gives me more shiat about using eggs, milk and butter than anything else. oh well mote pie for me!/why yes i sound fat.//5 different types of pie on the table make sense.

I'm always a guest, not the host so I eat what I'm presented. But if I were the host, I'd suggest that guests with special dietary concerns that can't easily be accommodated should bring their own meal. I wont be offended, they can eat at the table with everyone else... no need to force everyone at the table to the dietary restrictions of a minority. I wont ostracize you for it, you can feel included in the event, and everyone will have a good time.

Is that so hard? Or is Thanksgiving just about me cooking a meal for you?

Oh, look. Time to get wound up about this again. I suspect it's articles like this about how to cater to that Special Someone at the table that make people forget that most of what's on the table is already fair game for vegetarians.

Another Farkette and I have been putting on Thanksgiving dinner for our friends for a few years now. There's one vegetarian in our group. I roast two chickens and make a vegetarian entree, and as long as I don't get silly and make something labor-intensive like spanikopita, it's no inconvenience. The stuffing is cooked outside the birds, and all the sides are meatless. Other than the birds and the gravy, nothing on the table is off limits to our friend. Everybody's happy. At least I think they're happy. They're too busy eating to complain, anyway...

WhippingBoy:The Whore Of Mensa: person who eats fish, but no other meats: "pescetarian" "hypocrite"... hey, might as well be honest about it.

That's not at all true. They're only a hypocrite if they call themselves a "vegetarian".

eh, I usually just say "mostly vegetarian" b/c I feel like a pretentious jerk if I say I'm a "pescetarian". It gets the point across that I don't eat most meats, and then I don't get stuck explaining my diet and we can all get back to whatever we were doing.

The Whore Of Mensa:Mostly-vegetarian here. When I'm a guest at someone else's Thanksgiving, I just eat more side dishes and skip the bird. When I host my own celebration, just make a lot of traditional sides and put out the paper turkey decoration we've had since the 70s. Good time had by all.

Not out to convert anyone. Not out to "guilt" anyone. Anyone in my home who wants a turkey, I'm more than happy to attempt it (never actually cooked one-- not sure how...).

Seriously-- we aren't all smarmy a-holes who preach to you about food. Eat whatever you like, and happy thanksgiving, everyone.

My sister in law is what she calls an 'Iowa Vegetarian.' She picks the giblets out of the stuffing and has at. If somebody forgets and gives her gravy, she scrapes it off and eats the potatoes. Much less stressy than the twee West Coast-ers. It really isn't very nice to actually sit and judge your host and the other guests.

ThighsofGlory:The Whore Of Mensa: Mostly-vegetarian here. When I'm a guest at someone else's Thanksgiving, I just eat more side dishes and skip the bird. When I host my own celebration, just make a lot of traditional sides and put out the paper turkey decoration we've had since the 70s. Good time had by all.

Not out to convert anyone. Not out to "guilt" anyone. Anyone in my home who wants a turkey, I'm more than happy to attempt it (never actually cooked one-- not sure how...).

Seriously-- we aren't all smarmy a-holes who preach to you about food. Eat whatever you like, and happy thanksgiving, everyone.

My sister in law is what she calls an 'Iowa Vegetarian.' She picks the giblets out of the stuffing and has at. If somebody forgets and gives her gravy, she scrapes it off and eats the potatoes. Much less stressy than the twee West Coast-ers. It really isn't very nice to actually sit and judge your host and the other guests.

If you interpret a vegetarian not wanting to eat meat as a judgement on you, you've got some serious self-esteem issues. As a vegetarian, of course it's on you to check first and offer to bring something, but it's unreasonable to expect a vegetarian to just eat around the meat in a dish.

i like you, i'd enjoy having you as a guest and teaching you how to cook a turkey if you're interested. i have a cousin who is vegan and lets everyone he comes in contact with know how wrong we are for abusing animals and disrespecting nature. he biatches every year yet doesn't contribute any dishes to the meal. i refuse to make him extra stuff. i cook traditional favorites and most call for turkey or chicken stock, eggs and butter. it would be different if he were nice about it.

cheers-- thanks. I was "lucky" enough to be exposed a vegetarian who was a complete twat-- preachy, self-righteous, etc. About a year or so later, I stopped eating (most*) meats, and took a solemn vow to never act like that jerk about food. Sometimes it's good to have negative examples to non-emulate in life.

*person who eats fish, but no other meats: "pescetarian" "hypocrite"... hey, might as well be honest about it.

i hate people like that. you're not a hypocrite in my book. :) my cousin gives me more shiat about using eggs, milk and butter than anything else. oh well mote pie for me!/why yes i sound fat.//5 different types of pie on the table make sense.